The Anacondas, based in Los Angeles, and Wolfpack, based in Portland, claimed victories in the 2006 International Fight League World Championship quarterfinals in front of 5,349 at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore., tonight. Local hero and Olympic Silver Medalist Matt Lindland (Eagle Creek, Ore.) scored a second-round TKO over Jeremy Horn (Salt Lake City, Utah) in the highly-anticipated Superfight which followed the team competition. The Anacondas earned a 5-0 sweep over the Sabres, who train in Tokyo, while the host Wolfpack took out the Seattle-based Tiger Sharks, 3-2.

In the first matchup, the Anacondas, coached by Bas Rutten, swept past the Sabres, 5-0. Chris Horodecki (London, Ontario) battled past Ed West (Tucson, Ariz.) to get the Anacondas off to a good start, taking a unanimous decision at the lightweight spot. Jay Hieron (Las Vegas) wasted no time in winning his welterweight battle, delivering a crippling knockdown in the opening seconds and executing a guillotine choke which caused Amos Sotelo (Tucson, Ariz.) to submit at 0:26. Mike Pyle (Dresden, Tenn.) made even faster work of John Cole (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), taking just 0:17 to earn the submission by guillotine choke and secure the victory for the Anacondas. Not to be outdone, Alex Schoenauer (Las Vegas) also registered a tap-out over Kazuhiro Hamanaka (Tokyo) just over a minute into the first round. In an exciting finish to the match, Krzysztof Soszynski (Winnipeg, Manitoba) battled back after sustaining a cut above his right eye, catching Tom Howard (Tucson, Ariz.) with an uppercut that led to a stop by the referee late in Round 1.

“Everybody’s learning from each other,” said Rutten in assessing his team's progress. “That’s what you get when you train as a team.”

Bragging rights for the Pacific Northwest were at stake in the second match, and the homestanding Wolfpack came out on top. Ryan Schultz (Gresham, Ore.) and Cam Ward (Beaverton, Ore.) battled in another much-anticipated matchup to open the Wolfpack – Tiger Sharks clash. They didn’t disappoint, engaging in a spirited battle which ended when Schultz delivered a flurry of punches which stunned Ward, who could not recover before the referee called the fight. Brad Blackburn (Olympia, Wash.) and Chris Wilson (Portland, Ore.) continued the trend with a highly entertaining welterweight bout, with Blackburn earning a unanimous decision to pull the Tiger Sharks even. Middleweight Matt Horwich (Gresham, Ore.) gained a unanimous decision over Bristol Marunde (Sequim, Wash.) to put the Wolfpack back ahead, 2-1, before Aaron Stark (Portland, Ore.) secured the third point with a third-round TKO over Reese Andy (Billings, Mont.). Heavyweight Allan Goes (Rio de Janeiro) submitted Devin Cole (Medford, Ore.) to pull the Tiger Sharks within the final 3-2 margin.

In the Superfight, Lindland opened the second round by landing a left which dropped Horn to the ground. Lindland then landed several unanswered punches before the referee stepped in and stopped the bout.

“I like being the main event,” said Lindland. “I love being part of the IFL. “Team fighting – the IFL – is the best thing going right now. These guys did a great job tonight.”

The Anacondas and Wolfpack now advance to the semifinal round of the IFL World Team Championship; the date and location of the event will be announced later this month.

In the preliminary bouts between the teams’ alternates, Shane Johnson of the Sabres defeated Bobby Johnson of the Anacondas with a third-round TKO, and the Wolfpack’s Brian Foster stopped Dustin Denes of the Tiger Sharks by TKO in the second round.